Sight Unseen
by clagjanet
Summary: "I thought I saw..." Francine and Billy share insights on how Lee and Amanda's romance played out to watchful eyes, starting with that locked door in "All the World's a Stage". This story was originally published in the 35th Anniversary fanzine.


_**A story written originally for the 35th Anniversary fanzine. It plays somewhat with an old writing challenge to have one character say "I thought I saw..." and someone else trying to convince them they are wrong.**_

* * *

1.

Francine grinned at the closed door. There was no way Billy hadn't seen what she'd seen – Lee's shadow against the glass as he flipped the lock on the Q Bureau. Billy had already turned to go back down the hall, but she paused for just a second, just able to make out the blurry outline that was Lee advancing slowly toward Amanda.

" _Hoping a bad dress rehearsal makes for a good opening night, Scarecrow?"_ She toyed briefly with the idea of rattling the door handle again, just to tease them, then chuckled as she turned to follow Billy downstairs instead.

Mrs. Marston glanced up as they walked down the stairs, her brows twitching together in confusion. "Didn't you find Mr. Stetson? I thought I saw him and Mrs. King go up a few minutes ago."

"Ah no," Billy said, with a quick glance at Francine. "No one's up there."

"Really?" said Mrs. Marston. "I was only on the phone for a minute, but I'm sure they didn't come back down."

"No, they're not there," Francine rushed to confirm. "Maybe they took the back stairs for some reason?"

"Well, I think I would have seen them on the security camera if that were true," huffed the receptionist, pointing to the monitor that showed the upper hallway. "And they only went up a few minutes ago. Why would they go back down a different way?"

"Well, everything is all locked up and no one home now," said Francine, firmly. "They are definitely not there. Right, Billy?"

Billy picked up on her pointed look immediately. "No, definitely not there." He snapped his fingers. "You know what it is, I bet? I was teasing them about being spotted at the hotel the other day – you know, when they had to jump off the balcony? I bet Lee's going over evasive techniques with Amanda. You know, timing it so the camera doesn't catch you, that kind of thing. Rehearsing for next time."

His eyes met Francine's, twinkling with merriment. She'd told him all about catching them a few days before and Lee's lame excuse about running lines for the Martinet play.

"Practice makes perfect," she agreed, beaming back at him.

"Well, if you're sure," said Mrs. Marston, her voice tinged with doubt.

"We're sure," chorused Francine and Billy as they headed for the elevator.

The door closed behind them and they were both quiet for a moment until Billy couldn't help himself any longer.

"I just hope we can make it back to my office in time to watch them walk out past Mavis on my monitor," he said, the laughter bursting out him and sending Francine into a fit of giggles. "The poor woman's going to think we're the worst spies ever."

* * *

2.

Billy and Francine stood in shocked silence, watching Lee and Amanda vanish down the road in a cloud of dust.

"If she'd driven like that at Station One, she'd have been promoted through training a lot faster," quipped Francine, finally finding her voice.

"If they think they're going to make it to Dulles in time for their flight, they're both crazy," added Billy without thinking.

"You think they're going together?" asked Francine, not taking her eyes off the car.

"You don't?" he asked.

"Of course I do. They've been like teenagers trying to sneak off after prom all week." Francine was silent for a moment and then went on. "You know what though… I could have sworn I saw a marriage licence on Lee's desk the other day. He jammed it in a drawer before I could get a close look, but…"

Billy turned to look at her in shock. "What?"

"I mean, I could be wrong," she said quickly.

"It was probably just something left over from a case," said Billy, in a doubtful tone. Or preparation for this one, in case Tony wanted to do a background check on them… right?"

"Yeah, could be," admitted Francine, like she didn't quite agree.

"I mean, if they were getting married, they'd have told us, right?" Billy asked.

"Of course they would have," replied Francine. "Why wouldn't they?"

"Exactly. We're their friends, aren't we? And they know we can keep a secret, after all – that's what we do."

"I must have been wrong. It was probably for something else. Or not even a marriage licence at all," said Francine. "I mean, Amanda definitely wouldn't get married without telling her family."

"Absolutely," said Billy, sounding relieved. "So you must have been wrong."

"I must have been wrong," she repeated.

The two of them stood side-by-side watching the limo barely brake before Amanda had wheeled it out onto the highway – in the opposite direction of the airport.

Billy pursed his lips and rocked back and forth in place for a moment, obviously trying not to laugh. "How long do you think it will take them to remember that most of their luggage is in the other car?"

Francine gave off a very unladylike snort. "How long do you think it will take them to care?"

* * *

3.

"Excuse me, could you please tell me what room Amanda King is in?"

The hospital receptionist looked up and studied the odd pair standing in front of her over her glasses. "Are you family?" she asked doubtfully. "Because visiting hours are over."

Billy had been prepared for that question, and pulled out his badge to wave it gently. "We're here to talk to her about her… accident."

He still found it hard to imagine that Amanda had almost died in a gunfight that was completely unrelated to her work. Lee's anguish had been audible even over the phone and although he'd agreed with Lee at first to leave him alone to pursue the gunman, now that Amanda was on the road to recovery, he hadn't even been surprised when Francine had simply booked them flights out to California without asking. It seemed like she wasn't going to settle for anything less than seeing for herself and Billy wasn't about to argue the point.

They'd waited until the tail-end of visiting hours, watching from the rental car until Dotty West emerged with Lee, exchanging a long embrace with him before climbing into a car with a middle-aged man, Lee waving them off and heading back inside.

" _Is that her mother's boyfriend?" asked Francine. "The pilot guy?"_

" _No, from the files I saw on this case, I think that's Lee's friend, Barney," he answered. "Lee was supposedly out here to go fishing with him." He craned his neck to watch Barney's car leave. "Okay, they're gone – let's go."_

"Gosh, another one of you?" The receptionist wasn't hiding her disapproval of their presence. "That poor woman has hardly gotten any time to rest or recover with all you people nosing around asking questions. They already caught the man who did it – why are you still bothering her?"

"Well, we like to cross every 't' and dot every 'i'," answered Billy. "You wouldn't want the case to fall apart in court over some trivial thing we missed, now would you?"

"I suppose not," she allowed. "But you should probably prepare yourself to deal with her husband – he's a terror."

"Her husband?" Billy raised his eyebrow in inquiry as Francine stiffened beside him. "I wasn't informed of that Mr. King had joined her?" he asked, trying to maintain a straight face.

"Well, he may not be her husband, but he sure acted like it when they came in," she responded. "In fact, I'm almost sure he said she was his wife that day, but maybe he was just trying to stay close until her mother got here, because they don't have the same name. Either way – stay on his good side or you'll regret it."

"Duly noted," said Billy with a smile. "Now, her room number?"

"102," she answered pointing down the hall.

Billy nodded his thanks and they walked down the hall to where she'd pointed, stopping in the doorway of Room 102, but finding only an empty bed.

"That's a good sign, right?" said Francine in a strained voice. "Her mother wouldn't have just left if Amanda was…"

"Of course, it's a good sign," said Billy. "You know what it's like after one of these things. The doctors probably encouraged her to be up and walking when she can."

"Of course," Francine nodded, barely hiding her relief. "And we can't hear Lee yelling – that's an even better sign." She looked up and down the hallway as if they might have missed seeing their friends in the narrow space. "I'll go back and check with the receptionist to see if she might have gone for physio or something. No point bothering Amanda if she's busy."

She turned and strode back down the hall, heels clicking on the linoleum, the tension in her posture telling Billy she was in terrier mode. As he stood waiting, a familiar shape crossed the end of the hallway and disappeared.

" _Follow Lee, find Amanda_ " he chuckled to himself, and followed slowly. He reached the corner quickly enough to see Lee head out an exterior door and looking out the window, he could see Amanda in a chaise lounge out on the hospital lawn, enjoying the last rays of the evening sun. He stopped where he was and watched Lee approach her.

She was obviously dozing because she didn't react at first as Lee neared her and carefully put the drinks he was carrying down on a small table. As Billy watched, Lee rubbed a knuckle tenderly along her cheek, a smile lighting up his face when Amanda's eyes fluttered open and her own soft smile appeared. Her hand came up to drape around Lee's neck, pulling him in until their lips met, then Lee leaned back, resting his forehead on hers.

Billy could see their lips moving, but couldn't hear anything, of course, not that it mattered – whatever they were saying was for their ears only.

"She said no physio this late in the day, but that they might be out-"

Francine stopped talking abruptly as she realized what Billy was looking at. He could tell from the long exhale she gave off and the way she reached to gently clutch his arm that she was feeling the same crash of relief at seeing a healthy Amanda that he was.

Outside, Lee stood up halfway, then scooped up Amanda and sat down on the chaise so that now she was in his lap, safe in the circle of his arms, body curled comfortably against him, her face buried in his neck as he trailed his fingers along her back in gentle soothing motions, dropping light kisses on her hair and saying something that made her smile.

Billy and Francine stood there silently for a moment, and then in some kind of tacit agreement, they both turned and walked back down the hallway to the reception area, headed for the front doors.

"Couldn't you find her?" asked the receptionist.

"No, she wasn't in her room. Or the cafeteria," replied Francine, forestalling the next question. "Never saw hide nor hair of her."

"Did you try looking outside? I thought I saw her there earlier, getting some sun."

"No, but that's fine – we'll come back later. I'm sure our questions will keep until tomorrow," responded Billy.

"I can page her," said the woman helpfully.

"No, no, don't do that. I'm sure she's simply off having a check-up or something," Billy protested. "We'll come back tomorrow – and…" he glanced at Francine, "Please don't mention we were here. I don't want her worrying that anything is wrong with her case."

"You really couldn't find her? She can't have gotten far; it's only a small hospital we have here," she remarked. "Did you see Mr. Stetson? Big tall guy? Very handsome?" She gave off a giggle. "He drives the nurses crazy, but Mrs. King and her mom sure keep him in line."

"No, not him either," said Billy, trying not to laugh at the snort Francine hadn't quite managed to rein in.

"Really? He's hard to miss."

"Really," Billy reiterated with a smile. "We never saw a thing, did we?"

"Not a thing," echoed Francine.


End file.
